DATE: Sunday, June 29, 1997                 TAG: 9706270021

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM

                                            LENGTH:  102 lines

REPORT TO READERS HOT BUTTONS FROM DOG DAYS OF JUNE

It was a hot week, and readers were hot under the collar about an assortment of unrelated issues. Among them:

ROAD WORRIERS. Did you know that truck drivers feel they get bad press? I've heard that occasionally over the years, and this week it came out with the story about the head-on crash at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Wednesday's story, reporting the crash, noted that a woman died when her car collided with a tractor trailer. It didn't say how the crash occurred.

That bothered Bill Jackson, who is safety director for RJR Elite Trucking and ECK-Miller Transportation Corp. in Norfolk. While neither of his companies' vehicles was involved in the crash, he was concerned about the image of truck drivers in general. And he felt that readers would automatically assume that it was the stereotypical ``wild, red-eyed tractor-trailer driver'' who was at fault.

In fact, a follow-up story the next day reported that it was the victim herself who was responsible, according to bridge police.

Whoever is at fault, said Jackson, such accidents are psychologically devastating for the truck driver. ``We put a lot of focus on safety,'' he added. ``We work so hard at it, we're sensitive to it.''

RIGHT & WRONG. Several readers took exception to headlines or large-type pullouts this week. In some cases, the references were also in the stories, but it's that big type that really grabs readers' attention. The disputed wording:

(a) Religious gaffe? Political aide Paul Goldman objected to last Sunday's headline, ``William G. Dolan accuses Mark Earley of being tied too tightly to the Christian right.'' Goldman says that his candidate, Dolan, never uses religious characterizations in his discussions. He might refer to the ``narrow wing of the Republican Party'' but not to ``conservative Christians.'' Thus, we shouldn't either.

(b) Out-of-town trash. William Hartz, mayor of the town of Waverly, Va., was unhappy with the June 20 lead story, ``State probes spill of bloody trash.'' Both a pullout and map, as well as the story, identified Waverly as the site of the landfill where the trash was headed, even though the landfill is six miles out of town, in Sussex County. A correction ran, but he was still concerned about the effect on Waverly's image.

(c) Abortion bias. A reader was struck by Monday's headline, ``Abortion doctor calls law on notification too vague.'' He felt the characterization of the doctor was slanted.

``Would you call a prosecuting attorney an `electric-chair lawyer' because he seeks the death penalty as part of his job?'' he asked. ``Would you call an educator a `flunking teacher' because he or she fails students who do not make the grade?'' The headline, he said, should simply have said ``doctor.''

(d) Not a deal yet. Another reader thought we were premature with last weekend's Saturday banner, ``IT'S A DEAL,'' in reference to the tobacco negotiations.

``I was amazed,'' she said. ``It really won't be a deal until those blithering bumblers and the president get through with it, which I feel like it could probably take years.''

(e) Navy bashing. Finally, a Navy retiree was disturbed by the June 6 headline, ``Appeal court to hear case of ex-Navy SEAL trainee.''

In future articles concerning Billy Joe Brown and Dustin Turner, he e-mailed, ``couldn't the paper consider referring to them by what they are, convicted murderers and rapists, instead of what they were, Navy SEAL trainees? . . . To continue to associate them with the Navy is a disservice to all of us good sailors who have served or are now serving our country honorably.''

Some responses:

(a) If Dolan is indeed referring to the Christian Coalition or the ``Christian right,'' we're talking about a political movement - and I don't think the terms can be avoided. That would be like calling the Democrats or Republicans ``that other party.''

But we shouldn't make it sound like a direct quote or like he's criticizing the Christian religion, emphasizes state writer Bob Little.

(b) If the trash plant isn't in Waverly, it isn't in Waverly! But it sure is close. According to reporter Little, the plant uses a Waverly address on its letterhead. Still, the correction was warranted. We goofed.

(c) It's easy to oversimplify in headlines and, at first, I thought that might be the case here. But the story, by the Associated Press out of Charlottesville, does say he performs about 100 abortions a year. So ``abortion doctor'' is probably appropriate.

Hopefully, readers understand that issues, and people, are far more complex than a two-word characterization.

(d) Well, it was a deal, even if it still has to go past ``blithering bumblers.'' Just for curiosity, I looked at that Saturday's headline in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richmond being home to Philip Morris, I figured they'd choose their words carefully. The Times-Dispatch headline: ``Historic deal reached.''

(e) Again, I understand the sensitivity to attaching the Navy label to a brutal murder case. But it's a hard one to detach, particularly after recent developments.

As noted in a June 20 story, the parents of victim Jennifer Evans have sued the Navy, blaming their daughter's murder on the two men's SEAL training.

CLUELESS. A number of Cryptoquippers complained that the clue was missing from last Sunday's puzzle.

Well, we goofed, but I have to admit to being less than sympathetic. Half the time, the clue is to some obscure letter that isn't particularly helpful. Try it without the clue one day. It's a good challenge!

CALL IT BOOKER T. We got a lesson in terminology from a reader who was stymied by the June 16 story about Booker T. Washington High, ``Former student recalls lessons of integrating all-black school.''

``The thing that really got me,'' she said, ``is that the article kept referring to Booker T as Washington, and that's really confusing, because nobody calls it Washington, they call it Booker T.''

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